Basin wrench



Jan. 14, 1958 H. ST. PIERRE BASIN WRENCH Filed Aug. 22, 1955 m m m m Waiver 6772mm United States Patent 2,819,637 BASIN WRENCH Henry St. Pierre, Worcester, Mass. Application August 22, 1955, Serial No. 529,764 1 Claim. (CI. 81-98) This invention relates to a new and improved basin wrench providing for a much easier adjustment of the jaw structure of the wrench with relation to the shank or handle thereof, together with means for yieldably latchmg the jaw structure in rotative positions of adjustment.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a construction providing for a greatly improved ease of adjustment of the jaws with relation to the handle and including a yielding latch means construction to hold the jaws in adjusted position with relation to the shank or handle; and it is an object of this invention to avoid the deficiencies of the prior art frictional holding of the jaw structure, since in the prior art it is very difiicult to adjust the jaws relative to the handle when the wrench is new, but after the wrench has been used for some time, the jaw connection loosens until there is little or no holding power remaining in the frictional connection, whereas in the present invention the yielding latching means provides for substantially indefinite positioning and holding of the jaws in the desired location.

Other objects and advantages of the inventi n will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is an elevation illustrating the new wrench;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the jaws adjusted to a 90 position with respect to the Fig. 1 position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views illustrating the jaws in different adjusted positions, said jaws being opened and closed respectively.

The basin wrench in general is old and well known in the art, and the present invention is based on the conventional design thereof but including improved construction as set forth above.

The wrench is provided with a shank or handle which is elongated in nature and at one end is flattened as at 12 and punched so as to form an aperture for a sliding cross handle 14, the latter having enlargements at 16 to prevent disengagement.

At the opposite end of the shank or handle 10, the new wrench is provided with a rounded or arcuate end surface indicated at 18 and best seen in Fig. 3. In this area, the shank or handle is flattened as at 20, 20 in Figs. 1 and 2 and an aperture 22 is provided through the flattened portion so as to receive a pin 24 upon which the jaw 26 is swingably mounted.

The relationship of the jaw 26 to the arcuate edge 18 is such that the pin 24 serves as an axis for the jaw 26 as the jaw is swung between dotted line positions at 28, 30 in Fig. 3, these positions being 180 apart. A third position is shown in solid lines and in Fig. 1 also, and these positions represent the normal positions of operation of the jaw 26 with relation to the handle or shank 19.

The jaw 26 is formed with a pair of legs joined by a substantially flat surface 32 tangent to a circle whose center line is in the axis 24 and which has a radius slightly larger than the radius of the arcuate surface 18. The jaw 26 is thereby enabled to move about the pin 24 as a center but in the two dotted line positions of Fig. 3, the respective outer edges of the flat area 32 contact the sides of the shank or handle 10 which thus provides stops in these two locations.

A plurality of indentations 34 are provided at equal angularly spaced intervals along the arcuate surface 18 and these indentations selectively receive a ball 36 under pressure of a concealed spring 38 lodged in a cut-out portion 40 within the jaw 26. The ball 36 locks the jaw 26 in any one of the three locations illustrated as for instance in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. When the jaw 26 is adjusted from one position to another, the ball 36 is retracted by being cammed up by its respective indentation 34 and rides on the surface 18 until it drops into the next depression 34.

As is usual, a movable jaw 42 is hingedly connected at 44 to the jaw 26 by means of a bifurcation indicated at 46 (see Fig. 2) and it is to be noted that the pin 24 extends into this bifurcation and is assembled therethrough. Also, hubs 48 may be provided at the inside surfaces of the legs forming the fiat surface 32, so that the gap therebetween can be made to accurately correspond to the distance between the faces 20, 20 and thus prevent either binding or looseness between the jaw and the handle.

It will be seen that this invention provides a very quickly and easily adjustable jaw for a. basin wrench and that the same is long-lasting and does not Wear out under continued use due to the resilient nature of the ball-and-socket connection and the spring 38. At the same time, there is no frictional hearing or wear between the hubs 48 and the sides 20, 26 of the end of the shank and it is therefore clear that a much more easily operated tool is provided, and yet the same will not wear out as in the prior art devices which depend for positioning the jaw structure upon friction between the shank and the legs of the jaw 26.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what I claim is:

A wrench comprising an elongated shank, a transverse handle at one end thereof, the opposite end of the shank having an arcuate end surface substantially in the form of a semicylinder, said arcuate surface having a series of spaced indentations therein and those sides of the shank contiguous to the arcuate end being fiat, a jaw structure comprising a first jaw member having spaced ears on one end thereof to provide a slot, said first jaw member also having an arcuate serrated outer face, and an opposite inner face, a second jaw member pivoted on the first jaw member by means of a lug disposed within said slot, an arcuate serrated face on the second jaw member cooperatively associated with the first-named serrated face, said inner face of the first jaw member having a notch formed by a pair of spaced walls and a substantially flat bottom surface, said first jaw member having a bore extending parallel to said flat bottom surface, said bore communicating with said slot and intersecting said pair of spaced walls of said notch, a pin disposed in said bore, said pin extending across the notch and along the axis of the radius of curvature of the arcuate end surface of the shank and passing through a hole in the shank, hubs on the walls facing and locating the flat. sides of the shank, a spring-pressed ball located in the first-named jaw member and intersecting the flat bottom surface of the notch for reception in a selected indentation according to the adjusted angular relation of the jaw structure relative to the shank, said jaw structure being freely swingable on the pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,302,197 Miller et a1 Apr. 29, 1919 1,366,224 Walsh et a1. Jan. 18, 1921 1,431,389 Frisz (Oct. 10, 1922 1,521,464 Miller Dec. 30, 1924 

